Anyone taking celexa/citalopram for as long as me!?

[bluehuskybabe]

I have suffered with panic disorder since 1994 and have taken citalopram since 1995.  I function quite well with the occassional relapse usually related to lowering my medication dose and quickly resolved when I up it again (although I always have some anxiety symptoms and the occassional panic attack).  
I have usually been on 10mg -20mg but in June last year even though I hadn't had a change in meds 3 days after the birth of my second child I started with PA again a few months later when I wasn't coping I upped my dose to 40mg as soon as I felt better I dropped it again but soon felt worse so am now on 40mg and slowly getting better.
I can't find any information on longterm use of this drug and wondered if I am the only one who has been on it for this long and if I will need to be on it for the rest of my life and if so is it safe???
thank you for reading my post!

[Paxiled]

My guess is you'll get a lot of answers from those associated with the health care profession, but the truth is, nobody knows the answer to your question.  If anyone's looking, it's hidden in a University researcher's files somewhere.  If you try to find studies on long-term harm, well, good luck.  Here's what I've heard, but that doesn't make it true.  The longer you're on a medication the harder it is to quit.  The older you are the harder it is to quit, and the harder it is to figure out the appropriate dose.  The longer you use any of these meds the likelier it is it will stop working, but that hasn't happened in your case, but the fact you needed an increase in dose recently may indicate it's starting to poop out.  And it may also be true that the longer you use one of these meds your brain may not be able to function as well again without a drug in the system.  Now, as far as staying on the drug, there is some chance of liver toxicity, but you can monitor that by getting regular physicals, and everything said here or anywhere is very dependent on the individual.  I learned most of what I've said here from psychiatrists because I had a very bad experience quitting a med I was on for several years and this is what I was told and what I found researching on the web from patient claims.  Others have had not problems whatsoever.  I think the main thing is, how is your life without the medication?  Did you try and fix your problem through therapy, since medication doesn't cure, it only treats symptoms?  Because if you tried everything else and nothing else worked, the ill effects of being on a medication long-term whatever they may be, might be worth it compared to a life of increasing anxiety and decreased experiences because of it.  

[bluehuskybabe]

thank you for reply - just wondered if anyone else has experience of lonfterm ssri use?

[angie1298]

Hi i to have been searching for long term use of citalopram, i have been on and off citalopram since october 2003 after having my 2nd child but have suffered with crippling anxiety since i can't remember, it has been a gods send and am almost anxiety free when i am on them, am on 10mg and just can not function without them, i am now happy to stay on them and my doctor said i might have to stay on them longterm if it means an anixety free life, have come off them 3 times now am fine comming of them but soon sink into my anxious ways so you are not alone